Chief judge orders Todd Lyons to appear, saying patience is exhausted as migrants remain jailed despite rulings
Minnesota’s top federal judge has summoned the acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to appear before him on Friday, warning he may be held in contempt for allegedly defying court orders.
Chief US district judge Patrick Schiltz demanded ICE lead Todd Lyons explain himself personally in a three-page order issued Monday evening, declaring that “the court’s patience is at an end”.
The rebuke follows weeks of tilting anger during the so-called “Operation Metro Surge”, the Trump administration’s large-scale, aggressive and now deadly immigration enforcement campaign in Minneapolis-St Paul. The operation has generated numerous emergency lawsuits from immigrants claiming unlawful arrest or detention, with judges consistently ruling in their favor.
Schiltz, appointed by George W Bush, accused the Trump administration of deliberately delaying or ignoring judicial directives across Minnesota’s federal courts. His order came in the case of a man he had ordered released on 15 January who remained in custody as of Monday night.
